The Dow closed 830 points lower, Intel and Microsoft slipped more than 3.5% each. The Nasdaq lost more than 4 percent.

The S&P 500 slipped 3.3 %, with the tech sector underperforming. The broad index also posted nearly a week-long losing streak. The worst since November of 2016 when we fell below its 50-day and 100-day moving averages, widely followed technical levels.

Correction or Crash?

Together the Dow and S&P 500 posted their biggest one-day drops since early February, while the Nasdaq had its largest single day sell-off since June 24, 2016.

Stocks have fallen this month. For October, the S&P 500 and the Dow are down more than 4.4 percent and 3.3 percent, respectively. The Nasdaq has lost more than 7.5 %. This is scary for investors who do not have the patience.

Rising interest rate news and a pivot out of technology stocks have made it a rough last few days. The Dow dropped in four of the past five sessions, losing nearly 900 points over that span. Is this a correction or something worse?

Shares of Amazon declined more than 6 percent Wednesday, while Netflix slid more than 8 percent. Facebook and Apple also fell more than 4 percent each. These stocks are top performers for the year and for most of the bull market. For the overall tech sector in the S&P 500, it was the worst day in seven years.

Fear regarding a sharp rise in interest rates also pressured equities. The 10-year Treasury note yield traded around 3.23 percent a couple of days after hitting its highest level since 2011. The two-year yield, meanwhile, reached its highest mark since 2008. The speedy rise in yields has sent worries through Wall Street that higher borrowing costs will slow down the economy.

Rates rose on Wednesday after the U.S. government released data showing a rebound in producer prices last month. The producer price index rose 0.2 percent in September and is up 2.8 percent on a year-over-year basis. The index is a widely followed metric of inflation.

Dow Drops 830 points Wednesday the Worst Correction Since February

The recent rise in rates comes ahead of the start of the latest earnings season. Banks such as Citigroup and Wells Fargo are scheduled to report earnings later this week. Overall, analysts polled by FactSet expect third-quarter earnings to have risen by 19 percent on a year-over-year basis.

Stocks also fell as their European counterparts dropped on worries over Italy’s budget. The Stoxx 600 index fell 1.6 percent, while the German Dax dropped 2.2 percent. France’s CAC 40, meanwhile, pulled back 2.1 percent.